BXBX NOVEL Chapter 97 - Blood.
Before Leo arrived, Archer and Rin rushed towards the church as they blasted the door open immediately. Kirei, who was slightly surprised, yet delightful by the city condition, turned around to see Archer aiming at his head.
Taking a second to recognize Rin and why these people are attacking the Holy Grail War supervisor. He thought that was his own thing!.
Throwing those ideas away, Kirei jumped away from Archer's arrow, but then, he met Rin's gem magecraft. That didn't end because Archer started detonating his arrow.
Taking a few black keys, which are the common weapons of the church, Kirei throws them at the gems before an explosion devoured the interior of the church.
*BOOOM!!*
Because the gems and the arrow were close, Kirei broke through the window and was knocked away towards the church back.
Rushing from the smoke, Archer did a flip in the air before he projected arrows on his bow and shot them at Kirei.
Kirei grabbed his black keys while trying to summon Cu, however, Rin came with Gandr spells as she shot blacks beams at him.
Kirei was in a tough situation, which made him jump back to avoid most of the arrows while deflecting some of them with his black keys. Embracing himself, Kirei turned and threw his black keys at Rin's Gandrs. That got him an arrow to the shoulder, which pushed him towards the wall.
However, he succeeded because he raised his hand with the command spells and summoned Cu, which made the battle between him and Archer start.
Rin tried to threaten Kirei, but of course, that was useless as Kirei didn't care about her threats at all. He was even thinking if he should tell her that he killed her father to see the look on her face.
After those events, Leo reached the place before the blood exploded.
Crimson, crimson was the only color in front of the church as the blood flood was crushing everything in its path. If one looks hard enough, he can see different types of monsters in the blood biting anything close to them like they were on a rampage.
This stopped looking like a ritual and became more like a natural disaster as the blood-filled the street and tore the trees around the church while moving forward, drowning everything in its way.
If this was in the sea, then everyone here will think this is a tsunami hitting the city. Archer and Lancer stopped fighting and jumped away in two different directions. Archer picked Rin and evacuated while Cu didn't care about Kirei at all if he didn't order him with command seals.
Leo looked at the blood rushing towards the church before he raised his palm, facing the raging blood. His finger wrote on the air at a very quick speed before several runes appeared.
Algiz(ᛉ) means Elk, protection, a shield. The protective urge to shelter oneself or others. Defense, warding off of evil, shield, and guardian. Seven of this rune appeared in a circular manner, all pointing outwards, with the bottom all ending at the same point before they glowed pink.
Pushing his hand gently, the runes flew to the front before the pink space power from Palkia manifested on them and turned into a circular shield around the church.
*BAAAAAAAM!!!*
The blood wave collided with the barrier as a loud sound echoed in the surrounding. More and more waves arrived as the impacts continued, but they were unable to affect the barrier as the blood moved around it. Some of the monsters in the blood tried to bite the shield, but they got knocked away with their teeth broken.
Leo, who saw this, nodded because his idea was correct. Except Palkia, who is a Divine beast according to this world, his beasts are also under the judgment of Type-Moon's rules to use their powers.
From that night of battle, he saw that his beasts are kinda getting stronger because of the link with him. He wanted to do some experiments, but the situation in this world doesn't allow him at all, so he tried using Palkia with runes now and it was a very successful attempt.
Maybe he'll find some very interesting combinations that can even be used to mess with Odin if he dares to possess the runes again.
He blocked all this area because of a simple, yet unbelievable thing that he never thought he'll do in his life… Protecting Kirei. Yes, you heard that right. The final target of the blood was Kirei and the link between him and Angra Mainyu.
Although he still doesn't know the reason behind the ritual, Leo won't just sit still while these guys open up Alaya's dumpster (Holy Grail/World's Evil) and fill the area with the black mud.
While Leo was thinking about his devilish plans against the poor Odin, Cu Chulainn looked at the runes before he frowned and muttered "Primordial Runes? A big one(god/divine being) appeared, but… Who is this guy?"
Cu recognized the primordial runes instantly because he's also a user of them, but he couldn't recall anyone from the Norse like Leo in front of him. Even the divinity wasn't from the Norse at all, so who is this guy, who is using runes as a servant?!.
Shaking his head to forget the devilish plans, Leo looked at the people below before he said " Rejoice! Now, what happened and why did it happen?"
"I'm fighting, can't you see that?" Archer stared at Leo with a blank look while pointing at Cu.
"Hm? Sorry, but I only see you wasting time. You should have used your reality marble and pushed the advantages already" Leo replied with the same blank look at Archer.
"You have a reality marble?! Are you really an Archer?" Rin was surprised by this as she was annoyed by the huge amount of secrets her servant had. She already denied the possibility that he forgot his memories because of her ritual.
"OI!! You were holding back?!" Cu snapped at this information as it put Archer under the eyes of a tsundere(Rin) and a dog(Cu).
"..... Thanks a lot" Archer looked at Rin and Cu before he stared at Leo and said those words.
"You're welcome" Leo shamelessly replied under the blank eyes of Archer.
"Now!" Nero jumped from the horse and landed on the ground before she pointed at Rin and said " I want a report about the situation"
"Hah?! Don't order me around! And do you think I know what's happening?!" Rin snapped, which made Nero confused before she said " But you seemed like the type that know things"
"Ugh… Don't remind me" Rin turned her head away. She thought that after these years, she became a very knowledgeable magi, but this war, this crazy complicated war, showed her how wrong she was.
They have these Clairvoyance users that play multiverse 5D chess with each other while they, the mortals, don't understand anything. However, they apparently forgot about someone.
"With my command seals, Lancer use your Noble Phantasm on everyone here!" Kirei, who was hanging from the wall, said those words while raising his arm as it flashed with a red glow.
"You! Damn!!" Cu's body started to move against his own will as a great amount of mana entered his body from the command seal.
This amount of mana made him able to activate his Noble Phantasm immediately as his spear glowed red before he jumped towards the sky. Gàe Bolg became like a red torch in Cu's hand while doing a throwing position in the air.
"Gàe--Bolg!!!!" Cu didn't have much time to think, so he just aimed as the most troublesome and strongest person here, which was Leo, and shot his spear with all his strength.
Cu's Noble Phantasm, Gàe Bolg, has two forms, and this is the true usage of it. Unlike reversing the casualty, this type of release contains more power and energy as it can affect a large area. Due to the speed and power, it is almost completely unavoidable, which makes it like Gungnir.
The spear left a red trail in the air as it broke the sound barrier easily and detonated the air with its power. It didn't take a split of a second because of the speed to reach in front of Leo, who raised his eyebrow and moved his hand.
The same Algiz(ᛉ) rune with space power appeared around Leo's hand before he raised his two fingers and caught the demonic spear.
*BOOOM!!*
The red demonic was struggling with all it might, but it couldn't move forward past Leo's fingers, even the shock wave from the impact was contained in space and runes, which made it look like Leo caught a random rock, except the sound was loud.
"...." Glancing at the spear between his two fingers, Leo flicked it with a third finger and sent it towards Cu in the sky.
"WHAT?!" Cu's eyes almost popped from his skull because of the shock before he raised his arm and caught the spear. Even if the energy of the strike was crushed, the power from Leo's flick made him fly in the air before he hit the barrier with his back.
Sliding from the barrier, Cu recovered immediately before he used the barrier to jump away and land on the top of the church while guarding against Leo. However, his body was shaking slightly.
This guy just flickered his Noble Phantasm using runes, which was almost... Very much like someone he doesn't want to mention.
"Is this what do you call 'A spear that surpassed Gungnir'? If your teacher heard this, she'll take you on a tour in hell to clear your head" Leo lowered his hand and said some words that made Cu's body tremble.
"I didn't say that at all!! Who is the bastard that spreads lies!!"This wasn't his own emotions, but his instinct and body can't help but tremble when imagining what Leo just said.
His teacher, Scathach, will absolutely, definitely, 100% do that to him if she heard about something like that.
Leo pointed at Archer, who was watching the show, with his lance. That was a literal sell out.
"You!!!" Cu looked at Archer like a sworn enemy that he'll have 300 rounds of battle to recover his honor from.
"..." Archer looked at Cu before he glared at Leo with an empty face without any hope in this world. His thoughts were ' This isn't the regular timeline, so why do you have to sell me like this?'
"Lance, with m-... Ugh!!!" Kirei tried to use his command seals again, but suddenly, the space around him became a blade and chopped his arm off.
"Stay silent, will you?" Leo said as Palkia appeared behind him and solidified the space. Kirei was frozen in space as he couldn't move an inch, even the blood from his chopped arm stopped flowing from his body.
"Umu! Praetor, what do you think we should do?" Nero, who was well aware that she didn't have an EX Clairvoyance, asked Leo. She feels that she can make that skill using her imperial privilege and a lot of mana from Leo, but she will only forget it later, so it's pointless.
"Find who did this, obviously" Leo blinked when he heard this silly question, however, Nero didn't know shame when it came to these topics as she nodded naturally.
"..." Glancing at the proud emperor, Leo shook his head before he landed on the ground and called Merlin with their links {Do you have anything at your side, Merlin?}
{Nothing, except this disgusting blood that tries to stick on my clothes. I refuse to be defiled by such things!} Merlin looked at the blood in the city with a bothered expression because he, the magus of flowers, doesn't like this atmosphere at all.
{Nothing, huh? Then what? Do we have to wait?} Leo said as Merlin snapped immediately {Wait for what? Look at this blood! Do they need anything else?!}
"You really don't like this, huh? Well, let see wh-... Nevermind" Leo wanted to say something, but then, the ground started shaking violently.
The rivers of blood in the city stopped expending all around the area, instead they all rushed to the center of the city while they were grouped into a huge sphere.
More and more blood was rushing towards the sky as the sphere grew larger with each second passing by. Even the blood around the barrier starts decreasing while going to the sphere. The monsters in the blood were also forced to go back as Leo put his hand on his chin.
"What is this? I feel like I saw this before... Hold on, isn't this the crimson fucker(Alucard) ability?!" Leo exclaimed as he said a name that confused everyone around him.
Alucard, the protagonist of Hellsing, he's a true vampire that is basically someone who you shouldn't meet in the middle of the night. His most powerful ability allows him to absorb and dominate someone's soul by draining their blood. He can even summon them as familiars to fight for him after that.
"Okay, that's it! I've Alucard wanna be phony here and now what? Blood for the blood god?" Leo said with annoyance before he stopped in his place because he felt… Divinity from the sphere.
Unlike what he saw before, the ritual now became full as the empty shell was filled by the said divinity.
"....." Looking at the divinity rising in the blood sphere as more blood came to it, Leo felt like someone was making a joke of him before he raised his holy lance gently.
Everyone felt something wrong as they backed away, even Made In Hell, and Palkia, who opened a hole in the barrier, moved away because Leo was glowing with particles of light.
More and more light started to spin in spirals around Rhongomyniad before Leo did a thrusting pose.
"Rhongo---myniad!!!!" Waving the holy lance forward, a huge beam of light launched from Leo as it blinded the surroundings.
The golden beam of light passed the barrier from the hole instantly before it rushed towards the sphere. The golden beam of light illuminated the whole city as it made the blood in the air evaporate while advancing across everything before it reached the sphere.
*BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!*
A loud impact sound echoed in the whole city as the sphere and the light collided in mid-air. Particles of light were flying around as the shockwave destroyed most of the glass windows in the area.
The blood around the sphere started boiling as the blood sphere was pushed away, but suddenly, the sphere divinity rushed to the sky.
Like having a mind of its own, the sphere started moving around the light beam. Some tentacles made from blood rushed from it and tied the beam down.
A sound of corrosion was heard when the tentacles touched the light, but they kept moving around it before they tightened their grip on the light beam.
*CRACK!!!*
The cracks filled the light before it was broken down into particles by the sphere's divinity. When that happened, Leo widened his eyes, even if it wasn't his strongest attack, that attack contained his own divinity, however, his surprise didn't end because, after that attack, he was able to see what was behind the sphere.
"Ugh!" Leo closed his eyes as he held his head because he saw something that made his Clairvoyance overload.
Merlin, who was in the city, was in the same condition, or even worse because he was leaning on the wall behind him while feeling a strong headache after attempting to see what was in that sphere.
The sphere was slightly weaker now, but the huge amount of blood made it recover in no time as it continued growing.
"Caster, are you okay?" Ritsuka said when she saw Leo holding his head. She called him with his class name because of the habit of having the enemy master around.
"I'm fine… It's just, I saw something I shouldn't see" Leo shook his head before he checked on Merlin, which apparently, except being lightheaded, was also okay.
He couldn't see the thing inside of the sphere completely, but it wasn't something from this world. It was like gazing into a forbidden place with a trap, which knocked everyone away.
"Now, what do you want to do?" After shaking his head for a moment, Leo asked Ritsuka, who was next to him.
"What do you mean?" Ritsuka didn't understand, so she asked.
"That thing is getting his power from the people of this city, which makes killing all of them be the quickest way to deal with it" Leo said some words that made Rin exclaim " They are still alive?!"
After seeing the city condition, Rin, even if she was unwilling, thought that most of the citizens died in this ritual.
"Of course, they are alive. A living sacrifice is better than a dead one. Except who drowned in the river of blood, most of them are alive until the ritual's climax to have a better result" Leo shook his head while explaining the condition of the city.
When Archer heard his words, he went silent. He saw a lot of these things happen, so he's basically used to them, but his master, Rin, clenched her fist.
"Caster, can I ask you if you can save them?" Ritsuka closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she asked Leo.
"Hah? You want me, A Beast, to save humans? Did you hit your head or something?" Leo raised his eyebrow, but Ritsuka kept looking at him with a serious face as she didn't back down.
"Being serious now, huh? Yes, I can save them and without asking, I'm pretty sure you want me to do so" Leo said as he got a nod from Ritsuka. Everyone in this place looked at him, even the hanged Kirei.
"Sure, why not" Leo said while Ritsuka, who took a deep breath said " I know it's much to a-... YOU WILL??!!"
Not to mention Ritsuka, Archer, Nero, and Rin also widened their eyes as Leo was actually offering to save humans.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm the type of person that when he does something, he doesn't only like to stop his enemy, but hurts and even kills him" Leo said as he called Made In Hell. The horse moved quickly before reaching in front of Leo.
"So, let these humans be useful and work for their survival" Leo said as he rode the horse and pulled his reins.
Everyone didn't know what to say about this, it even left the sarcastic Archer speechless.
"... I might have to get a little serious here" Leo said with a small voice while closing his eyes before something was moving inside his spiritual core.
Inside his spiritual core, three dark blue, golden, green orbs that represent his three noble phantasms were glowing. Each one of them were circling around the red drawing of Qliphoth, the tree of evil.
"Self-Modification… On" With those words, the three orbs inside of his spiritual core started glowing like they were linked before the Qliphoth glowed, with a faint, yet a sinister gleam.
At this moment, Leo activated his skill, Self-Modification EX, as something that he doesn't like to use a lot was awakening. In the deepest part of his soul, deeper than the book of law itself, his essence and Origin, The Fool, was… Activated.